UN Mulls Tougher Sanctions Against North Korea, U.S. Says Leader Is “Begging For War”

Cerebral Lemon5 September 2017

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By Chidiebere Ejike

Following North Korea’s sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sunday, September 3, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley has said that North Korea leader, Kim Jong Un was “begging for war” through his actions.

Haley said this on Monday in an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in New York. “War is never something the U.S. wants. We don’t want it now. But our country’s patience is not unlimited. We will defend our allies and our territory,” she said.

She continued, “The United States will look at every country that does business with North Korea as a country that is giving aid to their reckless and dangerous nuclear intentions.”

While addressing the Council, Haley also urged the 15-member UN Security Council to impose the “strongest possible” sanctions against North Korea’s leader to deter him.

She said, “The time has come to exhaust all diplomatic means before it is too late.” She added that only the strongest sanctions would enable the problem to be resolved through diplomacy.

Earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump had threatened to halt all trade with countries doing business with North Korea.

“The US is considering in addition to other options, stopping all trade with any country doing business with North Korea”, he said in a tweet.

However, China, North Korea’s main trading partner and only major ally, has criticized Trump’s threat to cut off trade with other countries that deal with North Korea.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang said, “What is definitely unacceptable to us is that on the one hand, we work so hard to peacefully resolve this issue and on the other hand our interests are subject to sanctions and jeopardized. This is unfair.”

Last month, Trump warned that the U.S. military was “locked and loaded should North Korea act unwisely”. He noted that the U.S. would unleash “fire and fury” on North Korea if it continued to threaten America.

This warning came in light of a threat from North Korea to launch ballistic missiles towards the U.S. pacific territory of Guam, intending to create “enveloping fire” near the military hub that is home to U.S. bombers.

Also, following Sunday’s Nuclear Test, U.S. Defense Secretary, Jim Mattis, shot back at North Korea saying the U.S. will answer any threat from them with a “massive military response – a response both effective and overwhelming”.

Sunday’s nuclear test builds on recent North Korea advances that include test launches in July of two intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) that are capable of reaching large parts of the mainland U.S.

North Korea had conducted two nuclear tests last year and has been launching missiles at a record pace this year even in the face of a series of sanctions from the United Nations (UN) and international pressure.